Samsara's transformation ended and Nobu exhaled. Morning gradually came, illuminating the wild jungle. However, the description of the quirk had changed. It was no longer the same incredible ability, but still just as refined.
"This is strange. Very." - Nobu thought when he realized that this was no longer the quirk it had seemed a couple of seconds ago. Samsara before and after the transformation were radically different. This could give him an idea about the balance of the universe or nature. Nobu knew a little about genetics, but he did not know about computers or the theory of universe simulation, so it was easier for him to describe it as "the balance of nature" than "adjustment within the matrix". Anyway, the words are different, but they describe the same thing, but there is no longer any meaning in them.
Now Samsara resembled not immortality within the established mark, but a wheel of fortune or a lottery, inside which there were many abilities and, most importantly, the wheel could be spun four times.
He was surprised by this. It's too different from the expected result. Nobu's heart beat faster, since his further survival depended on his abilities. He activated the quirk and a rather modest circle with small inscriptions that separate the lines appeared in front of him.
-Fucking casino. - Nobu was familiar with gambling from his grandmother's stories. She talked about it in a bad way, as "something that wastes money and nerves" or "a useless activity". Now he understood what gambling was. His heart beat faster, seeing the abilities invisible to the eyes. Of course, the abilities are limited by the universal balance, Nobu agreed with that. If you give free rein to your imagination, their power can be limitless, for example, a child will simply appear, destroying half the planet with his sneeze. Therefore, Nobu noticed that an unknown force imposes restrictions, as if automatically. Natural restrictions or a matrix code. No idea.
"Phew, calm down, these are just abilities, they do not guarantee survival, and the jungle does not guarantee death." In his head, an idea of the rules of this gambling game appeared.
Rule one - Changes from the Wheel of Samsara are irreversible, they cannot be changed even by other abilities.
Rule two - The inscriptions of the fields are hidden from Nobu's eyes for your own safety. The winnings will be shown.
Rule three - The Wheel will exhaust its power and disappear forever after four turns, but Nobu will keep his winnings thanks to the Samsara mark.
There was no person representing these rules, it was like a metaphysical projection of the concept in Nobu's mind, nothing more. Nobu understood the rules of the game and gradually began to realize. The combined quirk created too strong a bundle and the world balance simply nerfed it. There was a disintegration of a single strong concept into smaller ones, something like catabolism in biochemistry.
- Let's start, then. - He whispered and spun the wheel. Ability was replaced by ability, he had the opportunity to skip this process and get the win instantly. Nobu closed his eyes and squeezed himself into the tree branch even more, unable to watch what would fall out. Maybe nothing, or maybe something that would save his life. The sound of winning was heard, frosty steam appeared from Nobu's mouth, his red eyes with snowflakes looked at the wheel. It pointed to a field with the inscription:
- Frost Breath (temporary: 2 months)
- Sounds interesting - he exhaled. Nobu would like to know what is written on the inscriptions, but everything is blurry and illegible. "Frost breath. Apparently Himura's blood contributed to the win," he smiled to himself. "Temporary quirk? Interesting."
3 attempts left.
The sun finally illuminated the dark jungle, and the first night passed. Nobu felt a little sorry for losing his Rollback and other quirks, he lost his supposed immortality in the hopes of getting more and becoming stronger, but now he has to settle for Frost Breath, but Nobu felt a strong connection to it, probably due to his Himura blood. His understanding of quirks has increased to such a level that he can see its potential just by meditating and trying it out. Nobu realized that meditation helps to drive away unnecessary thoughts, like sifting through a sieve and relaxes the body. "There is definitely a correlation between a person's psychological state and abilities. Well, it's time to go down, my butt is numb from sitting on wood."
A hill was visible in the distance, Nobu wanted to climb a large hill to examine the surroundings in search of something, it rains often in the jungle, and the water settles on the leaves, there are no problems with water. All he had left of food was the raw meat of a snake, from which he had torn off the skin. Continuing to carefully move through the leaves, looking under his feet this time much more carefully, he no longer had a Rollback and a second chance either. The poison particles in Nobu's body increased his overall resistance to snake venom. He did not know the name of this snake, it was black and rather nondescript, but its venom was incredibly powerful. The name of the snake is Black Mamba, a very rare snake. It had the strongest snake toxin in the world, and the power of the toxin ceased to be counted in human lives, translating everything into elephants, what can we say about a little boy.
However, the Rollback had a really strange effect on him in this situation, the Rollback could not remove the toxin from the bloodstream, so Nobu writhed in pain and died many times, although it seemed to him that he may have died once. It was a mistake of consciousness, the mind did not realize its death and automatically saved itself from this thought by reducing everything to a single theory about the loss of consciousness. In general, this is a protective reaction of the nervous system. While his mind was in its death throes and the Rollback did not allow him to die completely, the body fought the poison. Nobu developed an incredible resistance, probably to any toxin on the planet.
Looking for a way up the hill and making his way through the thickets, Nobu saw something half buried in the ground and overgrown with vines near a tree. It was the corpse of a man whose flesh had long since rotted and the bones began to crack. There was some fabric on the skeleton, more likely rags, let it remain the bandages that Nobu took with him. "You won't need them now." It was hard to tell the gender of the skeleton, but judging by its height, it seemed to be a child, slightly older than himself. "What could a child be doing here? Lost? Then there might be a settlement somewhere. The bone will also be useful." Nobu took the femur and sharpened it. "Now you will become my weapon. I will not become like you." While Nobu was sharpening the bone, traces were visible on it, as if it had been gnawed. "A tiger! There was a tiger here."
Nobu decided to leave with someone obviously occupying the place, and someone not very friendly. Hurrying to continue the route to the hill, after ten minutes, he heard a roar from where he was coming. "Could it be....he tracked me down. Damn it!" Nobu jumped up and ran out of the gradually dissolving jungle onto a field of tall grass with sparse trees. He ran, far enough away from the jungle, in the tall grass, it was up to his chest. "He won't smell me if I hide in the mud in the grass."
A pack of wild monkeys were watching Nobu, chasing him through the trees. They had spotted him while he was sleeping, and were waiting. These cunning creatures knew about the tiger's lair, and the tiger itself was following the boy, so they decided to wait until the tiger killed Nobu, having spent its energy on the chase. And then they would strike, driving the tiger away from its prey, taking Nobu's body. This was their cunning plan, these are the rules of the jungle. "You can't get hit by a tiger, his claws will just tear me apart." Nobu was shaking with fear and excitement, finding a small swampy place in the grass and paved himself in the mud. He had a plan.
The tiger, the king of the jungle, roared, demonstrating his superiority in these lands, no fear, no trembling. He left the jungle in search of the prey that had disturbed his den, he was not a stupid predator, so he walked around the tall grass and sniffed. The monkeys were in the trees, the tiger knew about them, but he would not waste his energy climbing, they ruled the trees, he knew about it. Having caught the scent, he began to slowly approach the overgrown grass, looking out for prey from behind the bushes, hiding. The grass rustled, it was the wind, but the impatient tiger decided to attack the supposed prey. Lightning fast, jumping out from behind the bush, he bit his fangs into a piece of cloth from which came that very smell.
It was not Nobu, but a piece of cloth, that skeleton with his smell. Nobu himself crawled to the side back into the jungle, an angry roar of a dissatisfied and deceived tiger was heard. "The plan worked, phew. I managed to throw him off the scent." Mudman, as they would call him from the outside. Completely covered in mud, a necessary measure to carry out the plan. Examining his body, he saw several leeches sucking blood. It was disgusting, he almost made a sound. Taking a sharp oblong bone and tearing them off, creating several wounds. "It would be bad to bring in an infection. Better to speed up and go to the hill. And there might be water there."
The evil passed him by, for now. All thanks to his ingenuity and endurance. The monkeys, disappointed in the tiger, remembered the manifestation of his weakness, and continued to walk around the area in search of a man.